On a night in which the president of the United States and Hollywood superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson were both in the house, New York State Athletic Commission Chief Medical Officer Nitin K. Sethi apparently decided he wanted to be the star of the show.

Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz delivered as advertised through the first three rounds of their UFC 244 welterweight main event for the “BMF” title Saturday night.

Diaz (20-12 MMA, 15-10 UFC), however, was cut above and below his right eye, and while Diaz has fought his way through plenty worse in his career, Sethi took a cursory glance at Diaz between rounds and decided to call off the fight, much to the chagrin of the capacity crowd at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

It goes in the books as a TKO stoppage at 5:00 of the third round, but Masvidal (35-13 MMA, 11-6 UFC), for his part, made it clear he was unsatisfied with the premature stoppage and was ready to run things back as soon as possible.

“For a fact, you gave me the love I’ll give you the love,” Masvidal told Diaz. “I don’t like to leave the ring like this with my opponent still conscious. We have to run it back.”

Masvidal was sharp from the fight’s outset, firing heavy hands with malicious intent. What turned out to be the bout’s most important sequence occurred early in the first round. Masvidal caught Diaz with a wicked elbow off the break, then landed a sneaky head kick which dropped Diaz to the mat. Somewhere in that flurry, Diaz was busted open around his right eye.

Masvidal was cautious about going to the mat with Diaz, which enabled Diaz to recover, but he continued to outwork Diaz in the standup throughout the first and into the second.

Diaz likes to stalk his foes, use pressure, and turn up the volume. But every time it appeared Diaz was going to turn up the heat, Masvidal managed to escape and reset.

Diaz is a cardio machine known for coming on in the late rounds. While Masvidal also won the third round, the round was also Diaz’s best, as he started to show signs he was getting it together, landing effective combos.

That built the anticipation for the championship rounds, but that’s when the doctor decided it was a good idea to step in and end the fight.

“The Rock” came in and placed the specially made “BMF” belt around Masvidal’s waist, and while Masvidal accepted it, he made it clear he wants a rematch. Diaz, for his part, let everyone know he’s down.

“I’m going back for this mother(expletive), right back,” Diaz said. “Let me heal this up and go again.”

The welterweight bout was the UFC 244 main event at Madison Square Garden in New York. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

With his 18th career stoppage win, Masvidal has now won three in a row. Diaz has dropped two of his past three.

Full UFC 244 results:

• Jorge Masvidal def. Nate Diaz via TKO (doctor stoppage) — Round, 5:00
• Darren Till def. Kelvin Gastelum via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 30-27)
• Stephen Thompson def. Vicente Luque via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27)
• Derrick Lewis def. Blagoy Ivanov via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
• Kevin Lee def. Gregor Gillespie via KO (head kick) — Round 1, 2:47
• Corey Anderson def. Johnny Walker via (TKO) punches – Round 1, 2:07
• Shane Burgos def. Makwan Amirkhani via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:42
• Edmen Shahbazyan def. Brad Tavares via knockout (punches – Round 1, 2:27
• Jair Rozenstruik def. Andrei Arlovski via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:29
• Katlyn Chookagian def. Jennifer Maia via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Lyman Good def. Chance Rencountre via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:03
• Hakeem Dawodu def. Julio Arce via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)